1. Field of Invention
The invention relates to a paper storage and handling installation for paper rolls as used in a reelroom of a printing press facility. It further relates to a method of handling and storing paper rolls in a reelroom.
2. Description of Related Art
An installation for the storage of pallets (U.S. Pat. No. 3,746,189) is known where a storage structure comprising parallel storage racks separated by aisles are provided. Each storage rack comprises a sequence of equidistant parallel vertical front beams facing the aisle and further vertical beams spaced from the front beams in a direction transverse to the direction of the aisle. Pairs of horizontal transverse L-shaped supporting profiles are fixed to the sides of the beams to support individual pallets. A storage location is in each case delimited by sections of the vertical beams bounding the same laterally at the front and back ends and by the flanges of the L-shaped supporting profiles bounding them from below. Load stations are provided at the side of the aisle adjacent to the storage racks.
A storage and retrieval device comprises a base movable along the aisle and carrying a platform vertically movable along a mast. A support mounted on the platform is transversely extendable into the load stations and storage locations and retractable from the same. As the storage locations are bounded laterally at their front ends by the front beams it is necessary to retract the support before it can be laterally shifted from a first storage location to a second storage location, even if the latter is at the same level and adjacent to the first storage location. Each time a pallet is to be transferred the support must be retracted after taking it up and, after the base has been moved along the aisle, extended again before the pallet can be deposed. Considerable loss of time may ensue as the movement of the support, particularly when loaded with a heavy object, is usually rather slow, its velocity and acceleration being limited by mechanical and other constraints.
Otherwise similar installations which are suitable for the storage of paper rolls for printing, with axes oriented vertically and horizontally, respectively, have been proposed in DE-A-37,39,234 and DE-A-37,39,222. They suffer from similar constraints on the movement of the storage and retrieval device caused by elements separating consecutive storage locations. The same applies to an installation for the storage and handling of paper rolls described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,076,751 where storage racks are subdivided into individual bins separated by walls.